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The adoption of this word by English-speaking philosophers and psychoanalysts conjures up ideas of quiet rooms with couches. In Bridge, 'shape' is something I learned to appreciate very quickly.
Gestalt philosophers and psychologists believe that things are more than the sum of their parts.
Structuralists are cut from a different cloth; they think that if you learn enough rules (elements), then you can cope with any contingency.
Yesterday I played a hand in 2S and was very happy to make 2S+1 for +1 IMP. I felt that this was a good result until I looked more closely at the hand and discovered to my dismay that 4S+1 was available.
Nobody had bid it, and nobody made more than 9 tricks.
I then sweated over it for three hours on the teaching table trying to work out if it was possible to bid 4S sensibly, and if it was possible to make 4S+1 reasonably.
Here's the hand; see what you think.
East leads the ♥4
Here's the dinner I made out of it for the poodles.
What caught me out was that if I bid it differently on the teaching table, the lead changed, and there was a gestalt shift! It was immediately obvious to me how to play and make 11 tricks.
Perhaps that's what Bridge is; being able to see the shapes in the noise.
Pilowsky 'Words are funny things. In German, the word gestalt means shape or form. The adoption of this word by English-speaking philosophers and psychoanalysts conjures up ideas of quiet rooms with couches. In Bridge, 'shape' is something I learned to appreciate very quickly. Gestalt philosophers and psychologists believe that things are more than the sum of their parts. Structuralists are cut from a different cloth; they think that if you learn enough rules (elements), then you can cope with any contingency. Yesterday I played a hand in 2S and was very happy to make 2S+1 for +1 IMP. I felt that this was a good result until I looked more closely at the hand and discovered to my dismay that 4S+1 was available. Nobody had bid it, and nobody made more than 9 tricks. I then sweated over it for three hours on the teaching table trying to work out if it was possible to bid 4S sensibly, and if it was possible to make 4S+1 reasonably. East leads the ♥4. What caught me out was that if I bid it differently on the teaching table, the lead changed, and there was a gestalt shift! It was immediately obvious to me how to play and make 11 tricks. Perhaps that's what Bridge is; being able to see the shapes in the noise.'
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IMO, Pilowsky's bidding was fine; although, perhaps, a 2♣ rebid would be better. It's surprizing that nobody made the 11 tricks, available with reasonable play.